Atlanta Braves: And so it begins with removal of “The Chop” sculpture

It was only a matter of time before the Atlanta Braves felt pressured into making some changes around the stadium in reference to Native Americans.

We’ve seen it happen with other sports franchises like the Cleveland Indians (or whatever they will be called next). And now things will start to change with the Atlanta Braves.

And it sounds like the Braves are trying to be sneaky about removing the chop, but they couldn’t sneak this one by Jeff Schultz of The Athletic.

Now, I don’t think many people are going to be up in arms about a wooden sculpture being removed. But I will warn you that this is just the beginning of the changes we are likely to see slowly implemented around the ballpark and in the stadium (once fans are allowed back in the stadium).

Our own Seth Carter wrote an article recently “Why it’s time to get rid of the chop,” and I thought it was really well written and researched giving the point of view – as best he could – from the perspective of the Native American.

I understand that not everyone is going to agree with this, and most people are just going to be upset and think it’s another push from the PC police. In fact, we’ve already seen several of you in our tweets.

We touch on the topic a little bit in our latest podcast where I give my opinion on the matter.

I’ll give you the cliff notes version for those of you who don’t want to sit through a two-hour podcast to find it.

Basically, for me, if it offends any Native American in the slightest then it’s not worth doing.

Do I love and enjoy doing the chop? Absolutely, been doing it since I was a kid.

Would I knowingly do it in front of a Native American if they thought it was offensive to their culture and beliefs? Absolutely not.

The same way I wouldn’t want to be around anyone making gestures or comments about my history and what I believe in. Just how it’s offensive to me, a Christian, to see someone dressed up as Jesus on Halloween and mocking what he means to me as a Christian.

When I do the chop am I doing it to deliberately offend someone in the Native American community? Not at all. And honestly, I never even thought of it that way until a couple of years ago when all of this started.

And that’s not to blame the PC culture we now live in, that’s just enlightenment on something I was unaware of.

But I get it, the chop is fun, it’s been what we’ve done as Braves fans for nearly 30 years, and I understand it’s hard to just give that up.

However, at the end of the day, it’s a team chant. It’s not why I love the Braves.

What I don’t get are the people in the comments saying they’ll quit watching the Braves if they get rid of the tomahawk chop or change the team name.

If your love for this team is directly tied to chant during the game, then you probably weren’t a real fan of the team to begin with.

So I’m here to warn you, it’s coming. Prepare yourself, get over it, it’s not that big of a deal. I promise you life will go on.

And if you want to miss out on watching Ronald Acuna Jr. play in Atlanta for the next several years because your salty about losing a stupid team chant, then that’s on you.

This isn’t political, so don’t make it political. But it’s going to happen. Taking down this sculpture is just the tip of the iceberg.